Joe

I studied Classics at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 2009. I then trained as a teacher at Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with a PGCE in 2010. I have been a private tutor since 2009, and have now clocked up thousands of hours' tutoring experience in Latin and Ancient Greek. I tutor both languages to degree-level standard in London, Cambridge and online. I love Classics, and my main aim is to make my lessons fun and inspirational.

Tutoring Experience

I have been tutoring Latin and Ancient Greek intensively for the past 12 years, and have now had thousands of hours of teaching experience. Most of my time has been spent teaching classical languages, but I have also tutored some literature.

I have taught towards all major public exams in both languages, such as 13+ Common Entrance, 13+ Scholarship, GCSE, AS, A2, IB, Pre-U, SAT, Oxbridge entrance exams, and even BA (i.e. University exams).

I am very familiar with the entry processes for a wide variety of independent schools, having taught dozens of students taking entrance and scholarship papers. This has included leading schools such as Westminster, St Paul's, Eton, City of London (amongst others), and has spanned various entry points, including 13+ and 16+.

I have tutored many students applying to Cambridge and Oxford, and can provide advice and support with choosing the right course and college, as well as getting to the necessary level for the language tests.

I have also taught the languages to those who have decided to learn them purely for fun! This has included interesting briefs such as tutoring a high-flying executive who wanted to reignite a passion for Classics from her school days, and a father and son who wanted to learn together as a fun bonding exercise!

In addition to my face-to-face teaching, I have taught extensively online, and have built up an array of handy techniques to get the most from the online format. See my online page for more.

I was Head of Latin at a school in Bury St Edmunds for two years (September 2011 to July 2013), where I started up the Latin department from scratch. Before that I taught Latin and Classical Civilisation in two state schools in Cambridge.

From 2010-2017 I widely supervised for the University of Cambridge, teaching undergraduates Latin and Ancient Greek (the colleges included Pembroke, Downing, Homerton, Queens', King's, Murray Edwards, Newnham, Caius, Peterhouse, St John's, Emmanuel and Trinity).

I also own and run a private tutoring agency in London, which I set up in 2011, managing a team of 9 staff members and thousands of inspirational tutors.

Tutoring Approach

My teaching style is structured and thorough.

I usually start with a 5-10 minute recap of the key content of the previous session (e.g. new vocab and grammar points). I check how much the student remembers through informal questioning, quizzes, etc. If this process flags anything that has been forgotten, I refresh their memory and make a note to test that content again in the following lesson.

I then ask the student what they've been covering at school (or, in the case of adult learners, what they've covered in their independent studies). I ask the student if there's anything in particular they want to go through in the lesson. I am always happy to adapt or postpone my own lesson plan if the student flags anything that clearly merits more immediate attention.

For exam students who have already covered much (or all) of their course (e.g. a late-stage GCSE or A Level student), my 'syllabus' for lessons is determined wherever possible through translation exercises, so that I can see first-hand which grammar points most urgently need revision, whilst simultaneously giving the student crucial translation practice. This means our syllabus evolves organically, and is continually tweaked to keep in line with the student's current learning needs.

During the translation, I ask the student to note down each unknown word as it is encountered, and together we devise a memory trick which will help them to recall the word in a quick test at the end of the lesson. The student and I will then pick a grammar point which stood out in the translation exercise as requiring the most immediate attention. We will dedicate some time to that topic, making some notes together, and the student's understanding is then tested with some reinforcement exercises.

At the end of the lesson, we spend 5-10 minutes recapping all the new vocabulary and grammar which was covered, and I typically set a manageable 'mini homework' for the next session based on what was covered in the lesson.

The aim of a mini homework is purely to keep the student's new knowledge fresh. I recognise that most school students already have many demands on their time, so I always keep homeworks brief and 'to the point' — i.e. the work must serve a useful purpose and link to our lesson. I also take a steer from parents (and students), and am happy to avoid setting homework entirely if they feel it is simply not manageable to fit it in.

Every lesson is of course different, and tailored to the student's requirements, but I find this approach (or a similar one) works in the vast majority of cases. I consider grammar to be crucially important, though when it's taught in isolation and for its own sake it can be dull and pointless. I strive to make grammar-learning fun inspiring, and always ensure that students appreciate why grammatical knowledge is valuable, as well as giving them the tools they need to apply it to its best effect.

Above all, my approach is to make my lessons fun and enjoyable. I love my subject and want all of my tutees to love it too.